Barry Baker

Loves journalism, is not a journalist. Loves politics, is not a politician. Loves the media, is not a medium. Barry is committed to helping the world become a more interesting place with Power of Opinion.

16 posts categorized "Society"

May 07, 2009

Looking for results of the May 12, 2009 provincial election, such as Kamloops-North Thompson, Kamloops-South Thompson, and the Referendum on Electoral Reform?Click here for that information

I've been giving a lot of thought lately to what motivates people to cast or waste their vote. Certainly if voting is perceived as futile, that would be a big disincentive. Proponents of Single Transferable Vote (STV) suggest that change will improve voter turnout, but changing the voting system is like changing the colour of consumer product packaging, then calling the product itself "New and Improved!".

But consumers buy into superficial change dressed up with cosmetic appeal all the time. Although voters here in Kamloops, the province, and elsewhere in Canada have said "No" to electoral reform in the past, change is a popular theme these days, and so it is no doubt just a matter of time until it electoral reform is adopted somewhere.

But before you opt for STV, allow me to suggest an alternative (and do-it-yourself) approach to electoral change that will cost less and individual engage voters more.

I call the system Best Ballot Format (BBF - with apologies to golfers everywhere). It's essentially a scavenger hunt designed to expose voters to every possible method of voting. Voters in BC can vote a number of different ways, including:

General Voting Day

Advance Voting

Absentee Voting

Special Voting

Alternative Absentee Voting

Voting by package (vote by mail)

Vote now in the district electoral office

Each voter must utilize a different method each election, until they have voted each of the six different ways. Because one can only legally vote via a single method during each election, it will no doubt take some time to achieve a personal straight (votes via all different methods). For that reason, several variations allow voters to achieve positive outcomes over either compressed or extended time lines, such as:

Personal Flush: Individual voters compete against each other to compile the most votes via a single method.

Shotgun: Voters form teams to collectively vote via all methods in a single election

Modified Best Ballot:Like-minded voters form teams to collectively vote for a single outcome (candidate, party, etc.) via a single method in a single election. The winning team may then be determined based upon a combination of factors, including the number of pledged votes within the team, the number of actual votes within the team, and the actual outcome of the election.

Modified Alternate Ballot: Opposing teams of voters select the methods via which members of the other teams will vote. Winning teams may be determined via criteria including the number of pledged votes within the team, the number of actual votes within the team, and the actual outcome of the election.

Rotten Ballot: Expected to be used only by those voters who have already compiled personal straights and then look to extend, the Rotten Ballot requires the voter to vote via all the different methods in a single election. The voter will potentially then waste both one and many ballots at the same time. Warning: if Elections BC discovers the prank, legal complications may follow.

This year for example, I worked myself one step closer to my own personal straight by casting an Advance ballot (to go along with the ballots I've cast in previous provincial elections via the General and Absentee methods) at St. Paul's Cathedral. I also re-discovered with some embarrassment that St. Paul's Cathedral is the white church on Nicola St., not the majestic red-brick church (Sacred Heart Cathedral) on Nicola, upon which the sign at left was posted.

While the above list of possible gaming voting variations is by no means exhaustive, the spectrum of possibilities and the massive number of current participants across the province could surely help raise interest in the mechanics - if not the substance - of our personal voting choices.

But it gets better! On election night, rather than listening to media talking heads feeding us micro-updates all night long, we could instead tune in to oddsmakers speculating whether the Norkam Shotgun Marriages can continue their streak of voting diversity to finally overcome the magnificent maleficence of the Summerland Vote Spoilers. And why waste your time waving placards at politicians, when we could instead be defiling opposing voters' Modified Best Ballot trading cards at rallies instead?

Listen, the last thing I would ever want to do is trivialize the Single Transferable Vote, especially when you consider all the taxpayer dollars we'd get to spend on the marketing and lawyers and consultants and bureaucrats required to put that system into place. No, when you consider all the money we've already spent on all those things, despite having already said "No" once to an alternative model, $TV is far from trivial.

It amazes me to witness the lengths people will go to get the government to legislate something we should be doing ourselves. As individuals we can make voting interesting, even if the characters and issues bore, frustrate, or even evade us.

In 1990, Robert J. Jackson and Doreen Jackson published the 2nd edition of Politics in Canada (Prentice-Hall Canada Ltd.), in which they wrote:

Electoral systems do not determine the nature of party systems, nor the type of government, majority or minority, single-party or coalition, in any country. Governmental outcomes are largely a function of the balance of party forces: the party system, in turn, is largely shaped by a country's political culture and social structure and by the electoral behaviour of its citizens.

The Green Party says that, "... no other party in British Columbia will benefit more from STV than the Green party," because it will put them in position to, "... hold the balance of power." That's what this is really about, power. Not change. Not progress. Power!

But if politicians want power, shouldn't we ask them to first earn their stripes? With some notable exceptions, the party system is already largely effective at weeding out the personalities and ideas that can't earn power or promote change. Politicians who want to short-circuit that grueling party process should consider another occupation before they ask us voters to do their work for them.

If a given issue can't earn the attention and support of a party then it doesn't deserve to be heard in the legislature. Likewise with parties and their candidates.

If one's chosen party is so marginal that it can't affect immediate change, then you've got a choice; either build the party from the ground up like Preston Manning and the Reform Party, or like Gordon Wilson and the BC Liberal Party, or work to build a bigger tent within a well-established party. Either choice will likely require the essential political skills which the STV seems to: patience and compromise.

As suggested in this space back in September of 2007 (Elector, Heal Thyself!), politicians should work within their parties to build coalitions on their own damn time before they hit the polls, rather than deferring the task and then assembling the coalition after the election at taxpayer expense.

Which is why this advance voter indicated a preference for the crummy system we already have (and for which we have already paid), rather than some other crummy system for which we will continue to pay in the years to come.

To share your thoughts about STV, First Past The Post (FPTP), Modified Best Ballot, spoiled votes, gaming, personal responsibility, or anything else with readers of Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops, just click on "Comments" (below)

April 09, 2009

It's been quite a hiatus, with so much happening in my life over the past several months that I've been hard pressed to read a blog, let alone write one. But finally, after weeks of pneumonia, and with a handful of inhaler devices under my belt, I finally feel the need and ability to write once more.

And so, with a nod to Mr. Bentz, Alice, and others who have given me shit online and off for keeping my thoughts to myself, I'm preparing to spread it around again from my station here in the Maple Leaf Lounge at the Calgary airport. Although you can often find me in one of these places between flights, I'm not much of a drinker and very seldom imbibe before flying. But having decided to venture a tipple, I now wear a puckered expression that will probably last until I get back to Kamloops; the bottle said Malbec, but this stuff in my glass tastes a lot more like paint-thinner. TANSTAAFL, I guess.

But in my weakened condition even half a glass is maybe too much, for between that paragraph and this I meandered over to the restroom on the left instead of the restroom on the right, intent on freshening up a bit before heading to the gate. Thankfully the lack of appropriate fixtures on the wall caught my eye before I entered a stall, otherwise the expression of surprise on the lady behind me at the mirror surely would have been complemented by a somewhat more intense and audible reaction.

OK, I was a little distracted even before the wine.

On the way to the airport, I asked my cabbie whether he followed politics. When on the road, I seek out local opinion in equal measure to local cuisine, and have discovered that cab drivers can usually serve up the first and drive you to the second with similar dexterity. Today (with the Pundit's Guide on my mind), I specifically asked about Michael Ignatieff.

I attended Mr. Ignatieff's luncheon a couple of weeks ago back in Kamloops, and left with a decidedly more favourable impression of a federal Liberal leader than I've formed in some time. Mr. Ignatieff painted many of his responses to the audience's questions in shades of blue, but with enough nuance to put rosy smiles on most faces. In the past I've perhaps incorrectly assumed that most of the audience at these events were card-carrying party members. But if many of the other attendees were invited - like me - by someone who hopes that Iggy can pull Harper Liberals back to the middle party, then Mr. Ignatieff`s ability get a roomful of hinges nodding in agreement was actually quite impressive.

My Pakistani cab driver didn't seem so impressed however, with Iggy or any other politician. "The faces may change, but nothing they do helps me one bit," he replied. He immigrated here in the mid-nineties from Islamabad where he was a successful banker. He and three friends - all professionals - moved to either Canada or the US in search of a better life. But while his friends in the US succeeded on Wall Street and elsewhere, Mr. Cab Driver was turned down by one prospective Canadian employer after another; you don't have any Canadian business experience, you're overqualified, etc.

"But I am not alone," he insisted, "half the cabbies in this town could tell you the same story. We are so many professionals, stuck here driving cab 7 days a week, even with a sore back. My friend was a heart surgeon in Islamabad, but when he came here he cried every day because there was nothing but the taxi for him. Now he has gone back home, so he can make something for his children."

Maybe this is why so many have so little to say about politics. You can't call it apathy if the matters involved are genuinely of little import. If politicians and their policies don't create much impact for citizens one way or the other, maybe politics is more of a pastime than a necessity.

That's a sobering thought. Maybe I'm just tired... it's been a long week on the road and it's always hard being away from the family. But now I fear that even when I return, it will be some time before this lingering sour taste leaves my mouth.

To share your thoughts about Michael Ignatieff, taxi polls, immigration, politics, plonk, bathrooms, or anything else with readers of Right Up
Your Alley: Kamloops, just click on "Comments" (below)

December 31, 2008

After six full seasons, the winds of change have finally brought a
different look to Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops. Those of you who have visited
this space previously will observe that the vibrant (ahem) colour
scheme is gone, replaced now with something a little more muted and
somewhat more seasonal. Over the next couple of weeks you can expect to
see some additional albeit smaller modifications, but the big stuff is done (at least until Spring).

While the look has changed, the Trans Canada motif remains. Several
readers have asked me about the connection to Highway #1, as I seldom
explicitly mention it.

In lieu of editorial counsel, I keep some touchstones around which help my otherwise scattered posts retain at least a little consistency with respect to
demeanour and perspective. One such touchstone is the honorific, which I hope steers me toward a respectful tone even when my purpose is critical.

The struggles and values and priorities and opinions of the citizens
of Kamloops exist at the core of the middle-Canadian and
western-Canadian identities.

...The Trans-Canada Highway
and two national railways that run through this town sometimes remind us of the tenuous connections and broad differences between our own
experience, and the experiences of other Canadians in other towns, and
other villages, and other cities all along these razor-thin corridors
across the country.

...If the only thing that mattered at the polls was how
much pork [then-MP Betty Hinton] brought home, I'd say she's earned my vote.

But that isn't what really matters, so I don't know why it seems to
be the bar against which we've chosen to measure her. We should measure
her based upon how well she represents the values and common sense of
the citizens of Kamloops Thompson Cariboo, and to what extent those
values help shape the nation and its laws.

As you can see, I never pass up a little excuse for a long explanation. The Trans-Canada logo remains, because it helps me maintain focus on two things that have always interested me; local and influence.

But issues come and go. Here are some of the ones that garnered attention from me and my readers this year:

You got humour in my politics! - Be it Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Tina Fey (s-s-smokin!), or any number of lesser known polebrities, politics and pop culture embraced one another this year as never before. Late in the U.S. presidential campaign, John McCain appeared on Saturday Night Live (for the second time) with Ms. Fey (she really is) as Sarah Palin, although IMHO the purpose of the visit was not so much to get out the vote as it was to resurrect his once-popular appeal from the miscues and carnage of the campaign. Like Bill Clinton in his Final Days video, but with some popular cachet. Humour. Politics. Two great tastes that taste great together!
Embedded video from CNN Video

Voters got high on democracy - We enjoyed a fine harvest this fall with a federal election, an aborted hostile takeover by the opposition in parliament, and BC municipal elections. Lucky west coast voters feasted on a cornucopia of homegrown politics that varied from bloodthirsty to outright boring. Readers of this space definitely had the political munchies; during the heat of the fray we served up well over a thousand visits a day. But don't freak out, there's another election bud growing. You can save the pangs of withdrawal for June, after the upcoming provincial election in May. And Dude! You can become a registered voter online right now!

The consumer is in the house - but the recycling bin is on the curb. The Baker household produces enough recyclables to pretty much fill the blue bin every week. Although we used to visit the municipal recycling bins on a regular basis, I'm confident that curbside recycling has helped us divert a significant amount of material from the landfill over the past 10 months. And I've been recycling jokes for years.

The speed of news - Every news delivery medium exhibits some manner of latency. But all familiar media, whether broadcast or print, are feeling the pinch as consumers demonstrate less patience for latent news today than in the past. Meanwhile, demand for real-time/near-time news market is expanding, which is one reason blogging has become so popular with news hounds. Consumers want to follow stories, to slake their thirst for information in the now, not the later. When traditional media don't satisfy this craving, consumers look elsewhere.

It's been almost a year since the last assessment of the local media's online efforts was published here, which means it's about time to revisit; with the exception of Kamloops This Week, things look pretty meager. I can't assess what I can't see, so if any media reps would like to discuss your future online strategies, this is your invitation.

Hold please? As reported here in February, Convergys announced it would move some of its Canadian operations to the Philippines. This blog not only received a tremendous amount of traffic from readers across the country looking for more information, but also anonymous tips about the future of Convergys in in the Great White North. I Interviewed a senior manager for Convergys in Canada, but wasn't able to corroborate and ultimately chose not to pursue. I may not be a journalist, but publishing uncorroborated information provided by persons unknown with uncertain motivations (especially about a publicly traded company) seemed to be both unethical and and poor use of my time (that's me reserving the right to publish trash if it is a good use of my time). In the end, some of the information was accurate and some of it was not; maybe it was simply overtaken by current events. For now, I'll stick with my own unsubstantiated speculation, thank you!

EmersonGreene will represent Kamloops in Ottawa - Speaking of unsubstantiated speculation, my wild guess about David Emerson becoming the Member of Parliament for Kamloops earned me some attention here and there, but no doubt perpetuated the notion that some bloggers have more time on their hands than access to inside information. What's next? Look for my exclusive interview with Bat Boy, who I predict will be deployed to Kamloops this spring to help manage mosquito populations.

Debtmageddon - debt has been the US' largest export for years. But as with many other products, when production increases quality tends to decrease. Now you can't give it away (this I know from personal experience). Canadian financial institutions seem a little healthier than south of the border. But with all the cheap money flowing, I just wish I knew how to get in line at the pump. Anyone for big government?

October 13, 2008

This weekend's edition of Kamloops This Week promimently featured a story about vote-swapping, entitled Vote-swapping across cyberspace. Vote-swapping, a practice in which voters from different ridings agree to strategically vote against their conscience in an attempt to influence election outcomes, has become a novelty pastime with armchair activists across Canada this election season.

The most frequent argument for vote-swapping in this campaign is that it will help coalesce the votes who are currently split between multiple parties on the centre-left, so as to overcome the party on the right (the Conservatives).

Frequently mixed in with (to the point that it is often indistinguishable from) this message is activism against Canada's First-Past-The-Post voting system. The suggestion is that if another voting system was in place, vote swapping wouldn't be necessary. David Thompson of the thetyee.ca recently posted that, "strategic voting is only necessary because Canada still suffers under the first-past-the-post system". And as the people behind Facebook's Anti-Harper Vote Swap Canada explain, the primary goals of this group consist of:

A) Allow third parties to flourish and maintain Canada's multi-party system.B) Help stop a Harper Majority! If the Tories win big, we all lose equally.C) Raise awareness about the need for electoral reform - people should not have to go to such lengths to ensure that their vote is not 'wasted.' No party should be elected to a majority with less than 50% of the popular vote.

It strikes me that this justification for vote-swapping has really turned the practice into a substitute for, rather than an demonstration of, electoral activism.

As posted in this space a year ago (Elector, Heal Thyself!, 07-Sep-08), building a tent big enough to win an election and implement progressive policy is hard work...

Our electoral system is not broken, and neither is the party system. What sometimes gets broken however, is the parties themselves.

Case in point the Progressive Conservatives, which in 1993 lost all but two of their 151 seats in the House of Commons. The Bloc Québécois formed the official opposition with just 13.52% of the popular vote, while the Progressive Conservatives and Reform parties polled with 18.69% and 13.52% of the popular vote, respectively. The right took a well-deserved beating in that election, but developed such a taste for its own blood in the process that it didn't manage to put a winning formula together for another 13 years.

The solution to the right's demise was its willingness to embrace renewal while accepting a spectra of opinions within the coalition.

Now let's look at the left; the NDP has been flanked by the growth of the Green Party in both federal and provincial elections, much like the Green Party and Ralph Nader have disrupted Democratic election results in the United States. Buzz Hargrove of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) saw the writing on the wall in the run-up to the 2006 federal election, and bucked years of tradition by backing then-Prime Minister Paul Martin and the Liberal party rather than his brothers and sisters in the NDP. It didn't work, but he had the right idea.

In 1990, Robert J. Jackson and Doreen Jackson published the 2nd edition of Politics in Canada (Prentice-Hall Canada Ltd.), in which they wrote:

Electoral systems do not determine the nature of party systems, nor the type of government, majority or minority, single-party or coalition, in any country. Governmental outcomes are largely a function of the balance of party forces: the party system, in turn, is largely shaped by a country's political culture and social structure and by the electoral behaviour of its citizens.

Canada doesn't need a new electoral system, and neither does British Columbia. Why legislate, when the power to build winning coalitions already lays within the hands of the members and leaders of our political parties? The problem is that the parties on the left apparently still haven't experienced enough pain to resolve the problem on their own, hence the cry for an electoral system that will allow them to avoid the hard work of building bridges instead of silos.

For those activists who are too work averse or hard-headed to build a big tent, there's always the other option: popular support.

BC's carbon tax is a good example of how issues are often most effectively championed by the very parties that appear to be part of the problem. Gordon Campbell saw an opportunity to garner more votes by implementing a carbon tax. While the policy shift has seen a lot of criticism (from the provincial NDP, no less!), the Liberals have now effectively commandeered an issue that had been owned by the environmentally-friendly oppositon. If an issue enjoys enough support to influence widespread voting behaviour, fundamental change is not only possible, but probable, reqardless of the voting system in place.

Sadly for slacker activists, building popular support for an issue among voters sounds like a lot of work too.

It's likely that some misguided voters in this riding will swap their votes on Tuesday. But before they cast someone else's vote, I encourage them to read these thoughts presented by other Canadians (of various partisan and non-partisan stripes):

To share your thoughts about vote swapping, vote pairing, strategic voting, the federal election, first past the post, mixed member plurality, proportional representation, armchair activism, or anything else about this post with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, just click on "Comments" (below).

September 27, 2008

Things get so crazy in the fall, doesn't seem to matter what a person is involved in, how large or small their family... it's just the busy season. Even weekends that looked laid back until Friday afternoon end up looking more like a 2-day scavenger hunt than anything resembling restful relaxation.

Despite (or in part maybe because of) the two concurrent elections underway, I haven't got the brain power for big ideas. This last week, it's been the little things that gotten under my skin, hence this lengthy installment of Baker Likes/Baker Doesn't:

Baker Likes:

It's a booth time! - As predicted in this space a year ago (September 8, 2007 - Expect highway tolls to be in play for next BC election), the provincial Liberals today removed the toll from the Coquihalla highway. Premier Gordon Campbell announced the move this afternoon at the Union of BC Municipalities convention in Penticton.

Throughout the week, it appeared that the Premier had been on the ropes over his carbon tax, with mounting pressure to exempt the North, or cancel the tax entirely. On Wednesday he "blinked" by promising to refund the tax to communities that become carbon neutral by 2012. He looked weak, even Carol James was feeling the wind at her back, crowing that Campbell was "... not listening" to the province's community leaders. Little did she realize it was all a set-up.

By allowing an expression of popular opposition (as opposed to official opposition) to wring this toll from his hands, Gordon now looks like 1). the belle of the ball (long, hard-wraught pun intended), and; 2). a good listener who understands British Columbians.

But in addition to the gifts he bore for municipal leaders, Mr. Campbell also delivered a lump of coal to Jack Layton, who he criticized for promising to tear up the softwood lumber agreement.

“Rip it up? Give your head a shake,” Campbell said. “We won't rebuild the forest industry by ripping up the softwood lumber agreement . . . It’s what’s keeping our forest industry going through what is probably the most difficult period in its history.” - The Tyee

Whatever your stripe, it's hard not to be impressed with that kind of masterful political play. Mr. Campbell drove one through the heart of his own political opposition with a solid forehand, then immediately spread the love around for the federal Conservatives with a surprising backhand to Jack Layton's head. But then again, the anti-Layton sneer works in Mr. Campbell's favour too; does anybody really differentiate between shrill provincial and federal NDPers?

A different kind of sizzle is what caught my eye at CTV.ca, where the network is demonstrating a deft touch with some online tools which this voter found fun and informative. The first, a Canada-wide election heat map, helps one visualize where the leaders are currently and where they've been over the course of the election. It was a neat feature during my first visit, but lacked the depth to pull me back in during subsequent visits; now, if it had provided a link between the leader's stops (represented by push-pins on the map) and the stories that resulted from those whistle-stops, I'd go back again and again. The second tool was better executed, it's a "Pick Your Party" race (at right). Viewers are asked to select from a sequence of unattributed quotes to determine which leader aligns best with your views. It had me guessing to the end.

No oil please, I'm gassy - Nice to see that legendary oilman T. Boone Pickens continues to put his money where his mouth is with respect to moving America away from its dependence on (foreign) oil. Mr. Pickens just bought Canadian innovator FuelMaker Inc., which produces a natural-gas refueling station for the home, called the Phill. The appliance taps into the natural gas lines already in one's home, to leverage a relatively inexpensive but previously inaccessible vehicle fuel source. Critics suggest his motivation is all profit. Is that a bad thing?

Dion goes to the bench - It's about time. Stephen Dion has finally discovered that if he can't win this election by himself, at least least he can lose it with help. One of Jean Chrétien's most dependable tactics was the deployment of lieutenants as foils against his foes. It gave him an opportunity to deliver different messages, but without the responsibility of consolidating those messages into a single unified thread. It also provided a lot of leeway for Mr. Chrétien to attack other party leaders, without the risk of getting muddy himself (not that he ever shied away from that).

But Mr. Dion is only getting it half-right... he's stumping along with them. It's an obvious mistake; he looks a wan in comparison, and is giving many card-carrying Liberals reason for regret rather than enthusiasm. The Liberal leader should assign one of the more aggressive members of the Liberal pantheon to shadow Mr. Harper directly, maybe one of them has what it takes to step up and become "The Grate One" of Canadian politics, à la Esa Tikkanen. The Republicans did it very effectively in Denver; the Liberals should be attacking the Conservative strength here in Canada, and the only way to do that effectively is with a team, not a one-man show. Mr. Harper is in the zone; the Liberals need to get him off his game before he runs up the score.

2 legit 2 quit - Why is it that when traditional media is under pressure, bloggers get the blame? This week local journalists gathered at a forum to discuss the present and future of journalism for the benefit of TRU journalism students. The Daily News reported that some of the collected professionals expressed concern that blogs have intruded into the news that people consume locally, like it's an either-or proposition. But if traditional media has lost its appeal, and blogs may be the usual suspect, the actual culprits may actually reside a little closer to home.

Take broadcast for example. Back in 2004, CNN reported on a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press study which revealed that "21 percent of people aged 18 to 29 cited "The Daily Show" and "Saturday Night Live" as a place where they regularly learned presidential campaign news. By contrast, 23 percent of the young people mentioned ABC, CBS or NBC's nightly news broadcasts as a source." Then, in May 2008 Pew told us that John Stewart has become the 4th most admired journalist (tied with legitimate anchormen Brian Williams, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and Anderson Cooper). What does it say about legitimate news media that news satire has become synonymous with news?

I personally have always been skeptical of what I read or hear on any news source. Rather, I read and listen to lots of news stories, editorials, and letters to the editor, then based upon my own experience of how the report of an event can differ from the actual event, I form my own perspective on an issue. Often the thing that drives me online to blogs (and other endpoints) is an on-going quest for more perspective, depth, or awareness of what others think. I do that, surely others do as well. In which case, the legitimate media should be adapting to the cause (evolving viewer/reader/listener/browser behaviour) rather than railing against the symptom (the growing popularity of blogs and other ultra-local/social media).

Despite the inclusive language of CFBX program co-ordinator Steve Marlow, I'm not convinced that blogging is journalism, although in the right hands it certainly can be journalism. But whatever it is, it doesn't require nor desire a nod from traditional media to be deemed legitimate; the consumer has already proclaimed this media 2 legit 2 quit reading. Hammertime!

August 12, 2008

Readers of this space from a few months back may recall a post about another Right Up Your Alley blog, which predates this one by some four months. However given that the other blog is based half-way around the world in Singapore, at the time I reasoned there was room for the both of us.

Now, manners aside, I can't imagine this apparently good-natured young blogger is likely to give it up easily.

Strike one: My wife says that the phrase "right up your alley" has some caché (whatever the hell that is) for the other guy's blog.

Strike two: The new blog appears to be an important element of Xtra West's online
product, Xtra.ca. So much apparent commitment, but without so much as a little
research or a friendly heads up? They haven't phoned!They haven't written! I'm not just frustrated, I'm hurt!

Strike three: Sean Horlor (below right) - the bright young author of the interloper blog - would probably never consider doing a solid for some straight-arrow, conservative-leaning, heartlands-blogging, media-loving, not-a-journalist he's never even met.

As you can well imagine, my concern is the confusion our two blogs could create for our visitors. I blog at least once a year about the Interior music scene. How would that help out a brother counting down to a parade on Beach Avenue in the West End? And what about the readers who want to share their stories about John Mayer's wonderfully non-offensive blend of blues-rock musings. This is obviously the right place to do that. But what if they end up over there instead?

It's more than just confusing! Two BC-based Right Up Your Alley blogs jostlin' up against each other? It ain't natural!

I know I can reason with this guy, I just need to understand his motivation! Let's have a closer look at Mr. Horlor's profile blogger profile:

At the end of his career, a clueless wannabe-Sears model is brainwashed
to write Vancouver's first gay blog. His interests include: break-dance
fighting, eugoogoolizing, impromptu walk-offs and rappelling down Mount
Vesuvius.

Modeling eh? Maybe Mr. HornyHornorHorlor and I do have something in common after all.

Back in the day, a chance encounter at Expo 86 (where I worked as a host at the BC Pavilion) with Princess Diana led me to a lucrative engagement on the European fashion circuit. But I really got my career on after a weekend of debauchery in Manhattan, during which I stumbled upon Stanislavski, then ate a roast pig while building on his genius to create the miracle of Method Modeling.

Fashionistas of the day will recall how the "fleshy" look came to dominate cosmopolitan runways in the late eighties; that was all me. But as the look caught on with middle America, I continued to pioneer modern modeling at a furious pace. The image above is the only known photograph to document my ground-breaking fusion of the proven and the avant-garde, capturing a pose that balanced the delicate decadence of "fleshy blossom" with the stark new reality of my piercing "teal iron" gaze.

As it turned out the fashion industry was too moribund to follow my lead. Instead I ambled off the runway to cruel catcalls while resolving to turn my back on the industry that spurned me. Shortly thereafter I found my way back home and retired to a life of sweat-pant obscurity here in Kamloops.

Some years later incidentally, after a thoroughly well-deserved but completely avoidable affair with pasty heroin chic, the fashion industry was rescued from itself when a new (albeit lesser) talent lifted what should have become my signature expression, and built his career upon it. Go figure.

Anyways, maybe there is some common ground here. But I must confess, my back is already up; just as my look was stolen back in the day, the name of my blog is being stolen now. What further invasion should a body endure?

May 29, 2008

I couldn't help but chuckle when I read Wednesday's Kamloops News story, Tagged by the city: City hall threatens resident to clean up graffiti or face fine by Cam Fortems.

The story reported how some downtown residents are getting heat from the city over graffiti artwork appearing on their property. Kamloops city council has adopted various bylaws to control graffiti, with which it is now encouraging Ruth Clark, Casey Kaldal, and others to remove graffiti when it appears on their properties:

Bylaw staff have threatened homeowners on Battle Street to either clean up murals on alley walls or City workers will do it for them [at cost to the homeowner]...

The City has given Kaldal and Clark the option of applying for a permit for a mural on private property. The final decision is made by council.

“He’ll have to spell out his design, his proposal,” [Bylaws Supervisor Jon] Wilson said. “I’m sure they’ll take a good look and see if it has merit.”

It seems that the city prefers graffiti to be permanent rather then fleeting, which seems rather counter to the art form (if you can call it that). Once graffiti becomes permanent however, we can refer to it as a "mural". Murals are good; as described above, you can get a city permit for your mural. Graffiti is bad however, which is why Bylaw 25-5 states, "Every owner or occupier of real property must cover or remove from that real property any graffiti present on a building, structure, wall, fence, or any other surface that is visible from a public place." Otherwise, the City will repair the graffiti, and charge the resident accordingly.

I suspect these downtown residents will likely get their mural applications approved, should they choose to submit. The City is so keen on permanent graffiti murals, it hosts what surely must be one of the largest municipal-approved graffitis in Canada (what, 100+ feet wide?) on the back of the Memorial Arena (as below).

It's funny, because over time I've done more public speaking than most people. Back in grade school, my gift for the public gab help me achieve lofty political office as Bert Edwards Elementary School's student body president. The attention was often exhilarating, but when it failed to produce a high instead my body was wracked with excruciating performance anxiety (racing heart, vomiting, the runs, etc.). I recall as a boy hiding in the change room at MacDonald Park swimming pool before swimming lessons, my guts churning with anticipation of... who knows what?

It got worse over time. In Mr. Shanahan's grade 8 English class at McArthur Park, I literally fainted while reading a creative writing assignment to the class. But rather than have my secret fears exposed, I quickly embellished a cover story while recovering in the medical room, a story which involving skipped breakfast (well I had, the day before) and a chocolate bar on the way to school (actually, one of my classmates had done that). The concerned teaching staff predictably concluded that my blood sugar had crashed at the exact moment I stood up to speak; as they swallowed the bait I discovered that a little misdirection could help me avoid admitting my weakness.

Sports affect me the same way. I was a nationally-ranked wrestler in high school, but as much as practices were fun, the tournaments were dreadful. Same thing with rugby and football. The other boys would jump around, screaming and shouting to pump themselves up, but I couldn't peel myself off the toilet.

During Expo 86 I was a host at the BC Pavilion, and regularly spoke to groups of 250 people or more. I only lost it once through those 6 phenomenal months in Vancouver, but although it was the exception that's still really the only occasion I can recall with any clarity. I completely lost it at the microphone, first with a rod-stiff neck, then increasingly frequent facial ticks, a racing heart, quavering voice, and obvious/audible hyperventilation that prompted several kindly older ladies to ask if I needed to see a doctor as they filed out at the end of the presentation.

A few years ago, Microsoft asked me to sit on a panel of .NET early adopters at a large conference in Anaheim. I agreed, but was so overwhelmed with dread that I asked my doctor for help. He suggested beta blockers, which apparently are quite widely used by public speakers, and even world-renowned surgeons prior to operations. They are supposed to block most nervous symptoms, but leave your thoughts unimpeded. The day before I left for the conference, I tried out this new remedy at a the Friday morning Daybreak Rotary meeting, where I imposed on an acquaintance to bring me along as a guest. Then, armed with a roll of loonies, I stood up and explained my situation to the group while plugging loonies into the announcement fund. It seemed to work at the time, but two days later in Anaheim, as I climbed on stage with Microsoft CIO Rick Devenuti and other bright lights, I would have given anything for a nice quiet outhouse and a shot of Demerol.

Around the same time, I agreed to speak at a city council on behalf of the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce (on which board I served). My friend Al McNair suggested a home-remedy for stage fright: Gravol. I slipped one under my tongue as we sat and waited our turn in council chambers, but by the time I jumped up to speak it hadn't calmed my nerves one bit. Rather, the Gravol had numbed my tongue to the point where any spoken words would have been completely unintelligible. In fact, I had to keep wiping away the saliva that was running down into my goatee from the corner of my now completely numb lips. Thankfully, my fragile heart raced for naught; we weren't on the list of speakers, so then-Mayor Rothenburger saved the day by promptly dismissing me when I stood to salivate at the lectern.

The good former mayor won't be able to rescue me tomorrow however, as someone else will have the gavel. The two of us are co-panelists, and will join speakers from CTV and the CBC on stage for the afternoon forum. With any luck my new and improved prescription of beta blockers will allow me to do more than pry myself away from the loo for just long enough to get up on stage and crawl under the table.

Will I offer anything of value to the assembled broadcast news directors? I hope so. I enjoy blogging, and as frequent readers can attest, really love the media. As it is however, maybe the most lasting (and representative) impression I'll leave them with is this; bloggers may come across as fearless and opinionated blow hards, but when the light of day is cast upon us, some of us look a lot like chickens.

That's a joke... I say, that's a joke, son!

To share your thoughts about stage fright, performance anxiety, blow hards, the media, pill-popping, or any other subject with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops
readers, click on "Comments" (below).

Ms. Mesley (at right) spoke to a friendly audience, several of whom didn't hesitate to pitch a tent once they had the microphone during the Q & A period. Ms. Mesley's sometimes confused expression (accompanied by an increasing number of rolled eyes by long-suffering attendees) didn't slow down several long-winded sermons delivered by a representative of Save our CBC Kamloops, a nursing instructor, a denier of climate change deniers, etc.

While the subjects of her lecture included a broad mixture of politics, journalism road stories, cancer survival, and investigative reporting, what fascinated me right out of the gate was the first thing that came out of her mouth.

Immediately after approaching the lectern at the Clock Tower Theatre, Ms. Mesley acknowledge a little discomfort with her microphone headset, and the fact that she was standing at the foot of a theatre with a couple of hundred people staring down at her. As an anchor she typically works in a studio with no audience, not even human camera operators.

Throughout the presentation she expressed unease and fidgeted with the headset, until she finally knocked the wireless unit/back pack off the lectern. Hanging as it was from her headset cord, she fumbled with it for a minute while looking off-stage for a technician to help her. Unfortunately, no assistance was forthcoming, so she toughed it out by herself. Visibly flustered, Ms. Mesley carefully picked up her train of thought verbally while scanning her notes to re-establish her place, then just talked her way through it until the colour left her cheeks, and her pace resumed. While a couple of hundred people isn't the biggest audience in the world, she still did a great job picking things up despite the obvious fumble with unfamiliar equipment.

Her apparent self-awareness didn't, however lend itself to much depth in her response to my own question about how her cancer experience has changed her as a journalist, specifically in respect to becoming part of the story. Despite admitting earlier in the evening that prior to her cancer, she had resisted to "going all Oprah" over stories, once she was diagnosed she injected herself quite effectively into her documentary.

Maybe she was a little defensive, having faced sharp criticism over her documentary from the likes of the Globe and Mail's Margaret Wente, who in 2006 wrote:

There's every reason to admire Ms. Mesley personally. But her journalism, in this case, is another matter. Chasing the Cancer Answer is stunningly simplistic. It peddles the biggest of the conspiracy-theory myths about cancer and its causes. It's full of misleading information and fear-mongering. It ignores a vast body of serious science. And it does a profound disservice to the public, many of whom rely on the public broadcaster for responsible and balanced journalism...

Advocacy journalism is all very well. But Chasing the Cancer Answer omits (or misstates) a number of important facts. To start with, there is no cancer epidemic. Overall cancer rates (as opposed to the number of cancer cases) have been relatively stable for more than a decade. While the incidence of some cancers have risen, others have fallen; overall, you have no more chance of getting cancer than you did 10 years ago. What pushes up the number of cases is that cancer is overwhelmingly a degenerative disease of older age, and our society is aging. Cancer is our second-biggest killer — but that's because we're living long enough to get it.

Her unsatisfying response is most likely my own fault, as my question wasn't very specific or well-formed. Like most of the others who asked questions, I somehow expected her to intuit and sympathize with my intent. In fact, most of us who had a crack at the microphone appeared guilty of being more interested in what we had to say than what the speaker had to offer.

I was actually looking for Ms. Mesley's perspective regarding her
decision to inject herself into the her documentary, to discover at
what point the threshold for doing so was achieved (OK, that was my
inside voice, it was a little more challenging to articulate my
thoughts with a microphone in my hand). Why? Because some commentators have very accurately described amateur bloggers as self-absorbed. In fact, most of us spend so much time writing about ourselves that it is quite literally our specialty. Most of the blogs I read (and produce) feature posts in which the author fully participates in the story, either as the central figure or just a plain old loudmouth.

What I do and what Ms. Mesley does are
worlds apart; she's a professional journalist at the top of her game (which includes chasing a story in our area), while I'm just a hobbyist with a digital voice recorder I can't figure out. But in some respects maybe bloggers and journalists are alike, and being struck by our distant cousin's acute self-awareness is a case in point. If professional journalists can - and maybe, should - become part of the story, certainly bloggers should have similar latitude?

At Behind the Headlines (a blog written by the editors of the Lexington Herald-Leader about their editorial decisions), the subject of reporters becoming part of the story was addressed last summer when a reporter took possession of evidence in a homicide investigation. Assistant metro editor Dori Hjalmarson described the dilemma as follows:

Normally the ethical muses of journalism frown on reporters becoming characters in the news they are writing about. Herald-Leader reporters and editors go to great lengths to balance and separate our jobs and our personal lives. It’s our duty to tell stories through others’ voices, to present other points of view – not our own.

Wendy Mesley isn't the first journalist to become a big part of the story (think of the extremes to which Hunter S. Thompson pushed the limits of journalism almost forty years ago), and she hasn't made a practice of it since Chasing The Cancer Answer was initially broadcast. But if not, then why not? And, how should we evaluate journalists? Based upon the large majority of cases in which they conform to dispassionate best practices, or those infrequent cases in which they stray away from them?

To share your thoughts about becoming part of the story, long-winded questions, the cancer industry, or Wendy Mesley with Right Up
Your Alley: Kamloops readers, click on "Comments" (below).

January 18, 2008

As the first month of 2008 unfolds here in Kamloops, the city remains transfixed by the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association scandal in which underage players partied at the home of association President Stan Burton, and the parent who brought the matter to the press was suspended by the association executive.

Meanwhile, at about the same time two years ago, the people of Kelowna were not only transfixed but were also mobilizing to change the president and executive of Kelowna Minor Hockey after they suspended a parent and her hockey-playing son for speaking out.

In that case hockey mom Wendy Wahler wrote a letter to the editor of Castanet.net, an online Kelowna media property. The letter expressed her frustration that both Kelowna Mayor Sharon Sheperd and Kelowna Minor Hockey President Mike Dalton failed to attend the organization's 27th annual Tim Hortons Major Midget Hockey Tournament. KMH president Mike Dalton then suspended both Ms. Wahler (for a year) and her 17-year-old son - who was captain of the Midget AA Junior Rockets - even though the boy had not offered any criticism himself.

Prior to the meeting President Mike Dalton resigned. But on February 21 2006, a vote to dissolve the association's executive was held. Despite the massive turnout, and a majority who voted in favour of the motion, the motion was defeated. Still, the damage had been done; when the smoke cleared the following May at the annual general meeting, Kelowna Minor Hockey had a new president and an executive with mostly of fresh faces.

Here in Kamloops, despite all the searches for information and letters to the editor, there is no similar petition circulating, and Kamloops Minor
Hockey Association members seem disinclined to rock the boat despite Stan Burton's egregious lack of judgement, whereas in Kelowna all Mike Dalton did was play hooky and go skiing. Go figure.

I've been told that far from mobilizing, many KMHA parents are actually sharing less criticism of the organization than usual, lest they or their children incur some future retribution. In Kamloops the status quo remains firmly in effect; Stan Burton and the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association executive have nothing to worry about.

To share your thoughts about the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association,
problems in amateur sport, the status quo, or any other aspect of this
issue with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, click on "Comments" (below).

January 13, 2008

Based upon the continuing appearance of letters to local newspaper editors, it appears that interest in the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association youth drinking scandal has failed to dissipate over the holidays. In fact, Kamloops Daily News City Editor Susan Duncan addressed the issue for the first time in Friday's On The Run column, published here. That so many in Kamloops refused to let the issue die over the holidays speaks to the depth of frustration and unease with the KMHA's handling of the affair.

This isn't just a matter of a few hotheads who won't give the issue up. Rather, it confirms something I've observed online since first posting about the issue back in December; people are looking for information about the scandal in large numbers.

One interesting aspect of publishing online is that one can monitor the visitor traffic to one's web site. Now, for the most part the level of detail to which I have access isn't very fine. However, it is very specific in one respect; search strings.

A significant portion of the visitors who arrive at this site do so after finding it on a search engine like Google, Yahoo,MSN. When the person conducting the search is redirected here, the search engine also sends me the list of words for which they were searching. As you can imagine, online publishers who care to review this data can develop a pretty good understanding of what interests their readers.

What I have learned since December is that readers of this blog are continuing to search for information about the underage drinking party at the home of Kamloops Minor Hockey Association (KMHA) President Stan Burton, the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association, minor hockey in Kamloops, Ladd and Monica Maloski, and a variety of other terms that are related to this sad saga.

In addition to observing visitor traffic, I have also received emails from concerned citizens - some of whom are leaders in the Kamloops sporting community - who express dismay at the apparent lack of respect for essential KMHA principles, such as;

EXPECTATIONS OF EXECUTIVE MEMBERSAn Executive Member of Kamloops Minor Hockey is an Executive Member first, parent and spectator second... Conduct shall be considered to be under scrutiny at all times and therefore above reproach.

and,

EXPECTATIONS OF COACHES AND TEAM OFFICIALSThose individuals accepting the position of coach do so knowing that they become the most important individual to the team. By leadership the coach establishes a model that players will use to mould a significant portion of their attitude toward the game. This facet is especially true in minor hockey where players are in the formative years of their life.

Following are a few points that Team Officials must keep in mind:...8) The illegal use of alcohol or drugs will not be tolerated. Anyone found guilty will be subject to suspension

Will public outrage force Stan Burton to resign? I doubt it; I suspect he has made up his mind to serve out his term, regardless of what would be best for the association. While Mr. Burton may choose to go out on his own terms, one has to wonder about the remainder of the executive. They have apparently chosen inaction rather than taking a stand on principles that seem obvious to the rest of us. How will they be able to lead the KMHA once Mr. Burton steps aside?

To share your thoughts about the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association,
problems in amateur sport, leadership, or any other aspect of this
issue with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, click on "Comments" (below).

December 22, 2007

Kamloops Daily News Sports Editor Greg Drinnan made a comment recently that caught my attention, in his follow-up story (reproduced on his blog here) regarding the ongoing saga of underage drinking at the home of Kamloops Minor Hockey Association President Stan Burton, and the related mistreatment of whistle-blowers Ladd and Monica Malosk (emphasis my own):

According to the KMHA’s website, from which its bylaws recently disappeared, its second vice-president is Kelly Brandt. Brandt is a friend of the Maloskis and was in their home the evening of the party. She has since removed herself from the appeal committee.

Hamilton was appointed the committee’s chairman at a Nov. 26 board meeting. He is the KMHA’s midget director. It was a midget team that held the party in the home of the KMHA president.

And around and around it goes.

In addition to Mr. Drinnan's implication that the apparent conflicts of interest at the KMHA might adversely affect the both Maloskis and the overall handling of the affair, the reference to the removal from the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association web site of the association's bylaws piqued my interest.

To share your thoughts about the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association,
problems in amateur sport, teenage drinking, conflicts of interest, whistle-blower mistreatment, or any other aspect of this
issue with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, click on "Comments" (below). If you have a more recent version of the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association bylaws, email me here.

The association has treated Mr. Maloski and his wife Monica terribly since the two went to the media in October regarding an incident at the home of association President Stan Burton. Burton's son hosted a party that was attended by the 15-year-old hockey player for whom the Maloski's are guardians. Reports indicate that the boy became extremely intoxicated at the party, and so the Maloski's took him to the hospital. While there has been some dispute over blood alcohol methodologies since then, reports place the boy's blood alcohol content somewhere between 0.17 and 0.33.

Perhaps not unpredictably, the Kamloops Minor Hockey League Ass. closed ranks to protect its president, now matter how inappropriate his implicit endorsement of teen drinking by (among others) his own son and a number of his son's AAA rep teammates. Instead, the association started swinging the lumber at the Maloskis.

As Kamloops Daily News Sports Editor Greg Drinnan described in his excellent and ongoing coverage of the affair, in addition to disciplinary steps against Mr. Maloski the association also launched a massive email campaign against Mr. Maloski in which it claimed that the Kamloops teacher had been convicted of a completely unrelated criminal offense. As it turns out, the association's attempt to discredit the Kamloops school teacher was based on erroneous information, so now the local hockey organization has made a bad situation even worse.

The purpose of this recent public apology was to mitigate the prospect of legal action by Mr. Maloski. No apology would have been required if Kamloops Minor Hockey Ass. hadn't been so eager to tar and feather Mr. Maloski in the first place.

Mr. Maloski's crime was that he not only accepted BC Hockey's (British Columbia Amateur Hockey Association) Zero Tolerance Policy at face value, but also acted upon it. The policy specifically states (emphasis my own):

BC Hockey is unequivocally opposed to illegal drug and alcohol use and is sincere in its duty to uphold the laws of the land in which its members operate...

Zero tolerance means that behavior contrary to that above will not be tolerated...

Alcohol is not appropriate:

In dressing rooms or in public, non-licensed areas.

In team settings with minors in attendance.

In situations where minors are left unsupervised while adults attend “hospitality” type settings or where alcohol is not controlled by a server.

Consumption in buses or cars when traveling to and from an event.

By adults of a minor team when parents are not present.

Consumed by anyone at minor team parties hosted by other players, parents or team officials.

Myriad letters to the editor in both major Kamloops papers have expressed dismay at the behaviour of the Kamloops Minor Hockey Ass., but these letters also betray parental fear of retribution by an organization that demonstrates more tolerance for alcohol among youth than it does for dissent by concerned stakeholders.

This apology seems to indicate that only the prospect of legal action will make the Kamloops Minor Hockey Ass. change its stubborn ways and pull its own head out of wherever it has been recently planted.

UPDATE 03-Dec-07: Now word comes from BC Hockey that it won't get involved in the matter, but will instead stand mute while the Kamloops Minor Hockey Ass. discredits sport in the Tournament Capital. Who needs Michael Vick when we can set our own bad examples so close to home?

To share your thoughts about the Kamloops Minor Hockey Ass., problems in amateur sport, alcoholism, or any other aspect of this issue with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, click on "Comments" (below).

October 06, 2007

Kamloops Councilor Arjun Singh floats a lot of ideas. Some of them are stinkers, but he tees up real issues with enough frequency to earn a lot of voter respect. Case in point his suggestion this week that Mayor Terry Lake raise human rights while leading a city delegation to China later this month.

Mayor Terry Lake pushed back on the idea, stating that the purpose of the trip was to promote business, not human rights. However, he went on to state that if the Kamloops delegation did raise human rights issues, it might be subject to similar queries from the Chinese regarding our record of dealing with First Nations.

So what? While a municipal delegation isn't necessarily the typical vehicle for pressing human rights, I'm perplexed by Mayor Lake's apparent fear of raising the issue and having to possibly defend Canada's human rights record against China's. Granted, our history of native relations is marred with mistakes like residential schools, but nevertheless these two countries quite clearly exist on opposite ends of the human rights spectrum. Or do they?

Have a look at the table below; columns A and B represent the human rights record of two different countries as measured against a variety of human rights criteria. Can you spot any differences between the two countries? If so, which country (A or B) has the better human rights record?

If you noticed a difference between columns A and B, you're on the right track. If you furthermore determined that Country A (Canada) has a superior human rights record than Country B (China), count yourself among the large majority of Canadians who could walk into a discussion of Canadian vs. Sino human rights records with their head up and their lips wet with anticipation.

If the Mayor doesn't want to raise human rights, fine. But Mr. Lake, you are a highly intelligent man. You can think on your feet, and I can't imagine a circumstance in which you would not be able to give as good as or better than you got. You should be proud of Canada's human rights record; don't use it as a lame excuse to avoid an unpleasant task.

Councilor Joe Leong also warranted a raised eyebrow from this corner for his comment that, "China has its own democracy. It's called Chinese democracy." China may have fashioned its own form of capitalism, but politically the country lost whatever progress it made toward Chinese democracy at Tiananmen Square. Canada and China are not similar politically, despite the fact that good people inhabit both countries. There are already too many politicians losing their way in a relativistic fog, Joe. We need more of your expertise and clarity of thought, but less of the doublespeak.

The fact is that we have plenty of good reasons to engage China, and Mr. Leong is doing a wonderful job of spearheading some local initiatives that are doing just that. Business throughout Canada has been busy establishing beachhead relationships between our two countries, but at some point Canada must insist on building something more substantial - like real respect for human rights - on top of that commercial veneer. This is where a middle power like Canada (and a municipality like Kamloops) can have the greatest international impact. But if we refuse to emphasize core Canadian values while expanding our relationship with China, the fact we can discern between columns A and B above is of no value to the citizens of that country.

The environmental movement in recent years has admonished our society to, "Think global, act local." It's a powerful motto; whatever the global issues may be, no matter how big they seem, it always comes down to what one person will do or will not do to create change within the sphere of his or her own influence. Mayor Lake often finds ways to think global and act local on behalf of the city when the issues are green, but Councilor Singh is now in essence asking Mr. Lake to demonstrate the same kind of leadership posture on unfamiliar turf.

Mayor Lake may not think it's his place to raise human rights when he leads the Kamloops delegation to China, and ultimately it's within his discretion to make the call. But I for one am confident he has the courage and skill necessary to deliver a delicate payload without harming the purpose of the trip. Councilor Singh did us a favour by putting the issue on the table; now the question is whether the Mayor will deliver the message, or pull up lame instead.

To share your thoughts about politics, trade with China, or human rights with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, click on "Comments" (below).

The end result of the 1996 campaign was that the NDP won the election with 39 of 75 seats, but with only 39.45% of the popular vote. Gordon Campbell's Liberals earned 37,534 more votes for 41.82% of the popular vote, but claimed just 33 seats. The Reform and Progressive Democratic parties collectively polled more than 15% of the popular vote, but claimed just 3 seats between them. Mr. Campbell's loss despite his superior showing in the popular vote has since motivated him to explore alternate electoral systems such as the Single Transferable Vote system proposed by the Citizen's Assembly on Electoral Reform, which BC voted down in the 2005 referendum.

A review of individual riding results for the 1996 election indicates that if the three sibling centre-right parties had managed to ally themselves in some way (via a coalition or other means) prior to the election rather than splitting the vote, the NDP tally could have been reduced by as many as 20 of their 39 seats, and the Casino Gate never would have seen the light of day.

Likewise, a review of individual riding results for the 2001 provincial election indicate that had voters not split their ballots between the NDP and Green Party, the left would have won an additional 7 seats, qualified for the benefits associated with official party status, and presented a much more effective opposition to the Liberal majority. The impact of a coalition on the left would have been much more profound however in the 2005 election, when the Green and NDP votes combined would have won an additional 11 seats to take the prize and deny the Liberals a second mandate.

I respectfully disagree with the notion that our electoral systems needs fixing. Voters in the two Kamloops ridings were the only voters in the province to deny even a simple majority to the STV question (the referendum required 60% of the popular vote throughout the province, and a simple majority in 60% of the ridings), and we got it right.

Our electoral system is not broken, and neither is the party system. What sometimes gets broken however, is the parties themselves.

Case in point the Progressive Conservatives, which in 1993 lost all but two of their 151 seats in the House of Commons. The Bloc Québécois formed the official opposition with just 13.52% of the popular vote, while the Progressive Conservatives and Reform parties polled with 18.69% and 13.52% of the popular vote, respectively. The right took a well-deserved beating in that election, but developed such a taste for its own blood in the process that it didn't manage to put a winning formula together for another 13 years.

The solution to the right's demise was its willingness to embrace renewal while accepting a spectra of opinions within the coalition.

Now let's look at the left; the NDP has been flanked by the growth of the Green Party in both federal and provincial elections, much like the Green Party and Ralph Nader have disrupted Democratic election results in the United States. Buzz Hargrove of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) saw the writing on the wall in the run-up to the 2006 federal election, and bucked years of tradition by backing then-Prime Minister Paul Martin and the Liberal party rather than his brothers and sisters in the NDP. It didn't work, but he had the right idea.

In 1990, Robert J. Jackson and Doreen Jackson published the 2nd edition of Politics in Canada (Prentice-Hall Canada Ltd.), in which they wrote:

Electoral systems do not determine the nature of party systems, nor the type of government, majority or minority, single-party or coalition, in any country. Governmental outcomes are largely a function of the balance of party forces: the party system, in turn, is largely shaped by a country's political culture and social structure and by the electoral behaviour of its citizens.

Canada doesn't need a new electoral system, and neither does British Columbia. Why
legislate, when the power to build winning coalitions already lays
within the hands of the members and leaders of our political parties?
The problem is that the parties on the left apparently still haven't
experienced enough pain to resolve the problem on their own, hence the
cry for an electoral system that will allow them to avoid the hard work
of building bridges instead of silos.

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August 01, 2007

On June 23, 1985 Air-India Flight 182 a Boeing 747 carrying 329 passengers and crew exploded south of Ireland over the Atlantic ocean. Prior to 9-11, it was the single most deadly terrorist act involving aircraft the world had ever seen. An hour before Flight 182 went down, two baggage handlers at the New Tokyo Airport lost there lives when baggage being loaded onto Air India Flight 301 exploded. Altogether 331 innocent civilians including 280 Canadian citizens lost their lives in the attacks, which are widely believed to have been the work of the Sikh militant group, Babbar Khalsa.

Four years later a single madman killed fourteen women and injured another fourteen people (four men, 10 women) at l'École Polytechnique de Montréal in Quebec. Marc Lépine claimed he was fighting feminism while gunning down his victims, and left behind a suicide note that expanded on his hatred of feminism.

Within a just a couple of years, Lepine's rampage had spawned the White Ribbon Campaign ("Men working to end men's violence against women"), the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women (1991), construction of a number of memorials including those at Minto Park in Ottawa (1992), the Marker of Change in Vancouver (1997), the Place du 6-Décembre-1989 in Montreal (1999), the Memorial of Hope at the University of Windsor (2004), and myriad memorial scholarships. Many organizers and commentators used Lepine's rampage as a marker for the generic capability of men to enact violence against women. The group Montréal Men Against Sexism wrote, "Men kill women and children as a proprietary, vengeful and terrorist act."

Meanwhile, aside from a couple of minor plaques (and I mean two, one in Ottawa and one in Toronto), it took more than 20 years for the first substantial memorial to the victims of Air India 182 to be unveiled. Now this month we have seen two new memorials unveiled; a memorial and playground in in Stanley Park (Vancouver), and another in the GTA (Etobicoke). At the Vancouver unveiling ceremony, relatives of the victims, "lamentedthat it took 20 years for the Canadian government to recognize the bombing of Air India Flight 182 as a Canadian tragedy", reported The Hindu.

So why did the Montreal Massacre warrant such dramatic and continuous demonstrations of grief, such recrimination between the sexes, while the Air India bombing barely registered as a tragedy that we collectively own as Canadians?

There is another nagging issue: a kind of genteel Canadian racism that has plagued this tragedy from the beginning and profoundly wounded many Indo-Canadians. In the immediate aftermath of the crash, then prime minister Brian Mulroney called India's prime minister to offer condolences, although the huge majority of passengers on that plane were Canadian citizens. "Had this been a tragedy that affected mainstream, white, Anglo-Saxon Canadians," said Lata Pada, a Toronto dancer who lost her husband, Vishnu, and two daughters, Brind and Arati, "I think the response would have been very different."

I had just turned twenty when Air India went down, but while the tragedy registered it also seemed very remote, almost like it was someone else's problem. I'm ashamed to recall thinking how screwed up those terrorists were, and why couldn't they keep their turf war in India where it belonged?

Like most Canadians I wasn't motivated to own the victims of Air India 182, but for some reason we all seem to have collectively elected to own the victims of a lunatic gunman in Montreal. Why? Because the victims were white? Because the victims were women? What about the 136 children who died on Flight 182? Would we grieve them more profoundly if they had an action committee?

Canadians demonstrated a profound lack of response to the Air India tragedy. Instead we proved to the world that all Canadians are not created equal, by pouring out torrents of grief, gender recriminations, and societal change in the aftermath of École Polytechnique de Montréal. While violence against women campaigns gained momentum and validity in post-Lepine Canada, in what respect did the state of Indo-Canadians improve post Flight 182? Why has it taken more than twenty years for us to memorialize these victims?

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